Who's talking Cobblers ? John Richardson ?

[Rosella]

Cadosch's first thought, knowing that there were a lot of tenants in No 29, would naturally be that it was a couple of the neighbours having a discussion about something. His thoughts wouldn't immediately go to "Oh, that's an prostitute entertaining a bloke in the back yard". It's a very big jump from that to inferring that his neighbour's son had a knife and is a murderer, and in fact Cadosch doesn't make that leap.

[RockySullivan]

He did say :As I thought it was some of the people belonging to the house, I passed into my own room, and took no further notice. " ...a good guess?

[Rosella]

Why didn't Cadosch or any of these other tenants mention it to the police then? After all, Cadosch testified at the same inquest as Richardson. If he had seen his neighbour loitering about the back steps of No. 29 with a knife surely he would mention it in passing, considering he put minute details into his testimony about a woman saying "No", etc?

[RockySullivan]

Why would Richardson admit he had a knife in the yard. He was sitting on the steps with his feet on the ground, knife out...correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't the ripper have to sit on the steps to cut annie and go thru her belongings....doesn't that put richardson in the exact position as the ripper? And they both have a knife out....although John richardson wasn't cutting his boot according to his final version of events....so what was he doing sitting on the steps with a knife out? The only reason to admit he was there with a knife out is he though someone may have witnessed him....possibly he thought cadosche saw him or one of the many tenants of 29 hanbury.

[Rosella]

The hired hand at the Richardsons' packing case workshop in the cellar was Francis Tyler. Mrs Richardson stated that Tyler had worked for her for eighteen years. He was supposed to start work at 6am but she said he had turned up at 8am which was not unusual when business was slack.

[RockySullivan]

Richardson: After cutting the leather off my boot I tied my boot up, and went out of the house into the market. I did not close the back door. It closed itself. I shut the front door."

John Richardson (recalled) produced the knife - a much-worn dessert knife - with which he had cut his boot. He added that as it was not sharp enough he had borrowed another one at the market.

Richardson was clearly caught in a lie at the inquest. Why wasn't this addressed by coroner? If richardson had produced a sharp
Knife would he have been detained as a suspect?

[RockySullivan]

It just does not make sense that John Richardson would walk to his mothers, and sit on the backyard steps and try to cut the piece of leather from his boot with an old table knife. If it was really bothering him he would have stopped to cut it on the wakl to hanbury street. He first claims he did cut it, then once he produces the knife he says he didn't actually cut it while he sat on the steps with his knife out, but later at work. It just doesn't add up and there's no reason to not view John Richardson as a person of interest when he lies to chandler, lies at the inquest and places himself at the murder with a knife out.

[RockySullivan]

One poster (tom?) suggested richardson was taking $ to allow prostitutes to use the yard. I think it's very very interesting that dark annie frequented 29 hanbury, knew richardson well and even conducted some legal business there. Scott the man you said slept on the stairs was supposedly a market worker....could richardson have allowed co-workers to doss in the yard/steps or charged Them a small fee. I'm interested in the man mrs richardson said worked with her son but was lazy and was usually late....I need to check the inquest and find his name. I wonder how good a friend he was of John Richardson?

[RockySullivan]

Oh, so now John Richardson's mother is helping him with the body! And who is this neighbour who supposedly saw John Richardson on the step with a knife? No-one who was called at the inquest, no-one the Press, who were hanging around the area like bees round a honey-pot, ever spoke to. In short, no-one!

I know I was talking a bit crazy, but I do wonder if the leather apron might have been freshly washed that morning? Do you think the ripper washes up in the yard before he left?

[RockySullivan]

Oh, so now John Richardson's mother is helping him with the body! And who is this neighbour who supposedly saw John Richardson on the step with a knife? No-one who was called at the inquest, no-one the Press, who were hanging around the area like bees round a honey-pot, ever spoke to. In short, no-one!

No one needed to see him for him to become paranoid someone had. Why change his story from he only looked at the cellar to he sat on the steps with a knife and cut his boot - to he cut the booth later at work? He was scared someone saw him with the knife....why else would he admit to being out in the yard with one when he never actually cut his boot in the yard? When someone puts themselves at the scene of the crime with a weapon...and they change their story many times....what could possibly elevate them beyond the level the suspicion?

[Rosella]

Oh, so now John Richardson's mother is helping him with the body! And who is this neighbour who supposedly saw John Richardson on the step with a knife? No-one who was called at the inquest, no-one the Press, who were hanging around the area like bees round a honey-pot, ever spoke to. In short, no-one!

[RockySullivan]

Actually he was probably the guy who slept on the stairs of 29 Hanbury Street in the months prior to Chapman's murder. And he wasn't John Pizer.

scott do you think the man who threatened Richardson was perhaps the same man who was sleeping on the stairs? Richardson claims the other people around the building know the man. It's such a strange account!

[RockySullivan]

Richardson says that he cut the leather and tied his boot up, only to later claim he did it later on the market. Why would he stop to cut his boot on the backsteps of his mothers yard?


John Richardson, son of a previous witness, said he lived in John-street, Spitalfields, was a porter in Spitalfields Market, and helped his mother with her packing-case business. About a quarter to five o'clock on Saturday morning he went to 29, Hanbury-street, to see if the cellar where they made the packing cases was all secure, because a few months back somebody broke into it and took two saws and two hammers.

The Coroner-Do you go every morning to see if the cellar is secure?-No; only on market mornings, when I am out early and there's a good lot of people about. I have done so for some months. Is that all you went for?-Yes, sir.

A Juror-His mother said there had been no robberies.

The Witness-She forgot. If you will ask her, you see that it is right.

The Coroner-On other than market mornings do you leave the cellar to take care of itself?-Yes, sir.

Was the front door open on Saturday morning.

The Witness-No, sir; it was shut. So was the back door. I opened it and sat on the back steps to cut a piece of leather off my boot.

What sort of a knife did you use?-One four or five inches long.

What do you usually use that knife for?-I had been using it to cut up a piece of carrot for the rabbit, and I afterwards put it in my pocket.

Do you generally keep it in your pocket?-No.

Why did you put it there on this occasion?-I suppose it was a mistake on my part.

When you had cut the piece of leather off your boot did you leave the house?-Yes. I tied my boot up and went out. I did not close the back door. It closes itself. I shut the front door. I was not in the house more than two minutes at the most. It was not quite light, but enough for me to see.

Did you notice any object in the yard?-No, sir. I could not have failed to notice the deceased if she had been there then.

You have heard where she was found?-Yes, I saw the body.

How came you to see it?-A man in the market told me there had been a murder in Hanbury-street. He did not know at which house. I saw the body from the adjoining yard.

When did you first think your boot wanted cutting?-It hurt my toe and I cut a piece out the day before, but I found I had not cut enough.

Then all you did at Hanbury-street was to cut your boot?-That's all, sir.

Did you go into the yard at all?-Not at all, sir.

I thought you went there to see that the cellar was all right?-Yes; but you don't need to go into the yard to see that. You can see the padlock of the cellar door from the back door steps.

And that was the sole object you had in going there?-Yes, sir.

Did you sit on the top step?-No, the second step.

Where were your feet?-On the flags of the yard.

You must have been quite close to where the body was found?-Quite right, sir. If she had been there at the time I must have seen her.

Have you seen any strangers in the passage of the house?-Yes, lots; plenty of them, at all hours.

Men and women?-Yes; and I have turned them out. I have seen them lying down on the landing.

Do they go there for an immoral purpose?-They do. I have caught them.

A Juror-His mother said she never knew anybody to go for an immoral purpose.

The Coroner-Has your knife been seen by the police?

The Witness-No, sir.

Have you got it with you?-No.

The Coroner-Go and get it.

The witness went away to obey this order, accompanied by a policeman.

Mrs. Richardson, recalled in her son's absence, said she had never had anything stolen from her house.

The Coroner-Have you ever lost anything from the cellar?

The Witness-Oh, yes; I have missed a saw and a hammer, but that is a long time ago. They broke the padlock of the cellar door at the time. My son now comes to see whether it is all right almost every morning before he goes to market.

Do you understand that he goes down to the cellar door?-No, he can see from the steps.

Have you ever had suspicion that the house or the yard was used for immoral purposes?-No, sir.

Have you said something about a leather apron?-Yes, my son always wears a leather apron at his work in the cellar.

It is rather a dangerous thing for anybody to wear a leather apron at present. Have you ever washed your son's apron?

Yes, sir; I washed it last Thursday, because I found it in the cellar mildewed. He had not used it for a month. We are so slack. I put it under the tap in the yard and left it there till Saturday morning, when the police took it away. There was a pan of beautiful clean water under the tap on Saturday morning about half-past seven, after the body was moved. It could not have been disturbed. It was in the same position as on Friday night.

Has your son ever spoken to you about finding strange men on the first floor landing?-No.

http://www.casebook.org/press_reports/daily_news/18880913.html?printer=true

Cadosche: On visiting the house next door to the tragedy, 27, our representative saw Mr. Albert Cadosen [sic], a carpenter, who resides there and works in Shoe-lane, Fleet-street. He says: I was not very well in the night and I went out into the back yard about 25 minutes past five. It was just getting daylight, and as I passed to the back of the yard I heard a sound as of two people up in the corner of the next yard. On coming back I heard some words which I did not catch, but I heard a woman say “No.” Then I heard a kind of scuffle going on, and someone seemed to fall heavily on to the ground against the wooden partition which divided the yard, at the spot where the body was afterwards found. As I thought it was some of the people belonging to the house, I passed into my own room, and took no further notice.19

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rip-cadosch.html

What if the "no, no" cadosche heard was Mrs. Richardson talking with her son? could she have helped him move the body against the fence, wash his leather apron (why would they just leave it ina bucket so long, wouldnt he need it?) cover up the crime? It would explain the time of cadosche hearing what he though was "people belonging to the house"....

[RockySullivan]

Actually he was probably the guy who slept on the stairs of 29 Hanbury Street in the months prior to Chapman's murder. And he wasn't John Pizer.

Who was that man scott? Are there any references to him? Richardson is already sitting next to spot where a body should be with a knife out. Why the need to find someone to place there when he's already admitted he's in the right spot, with the weapon, he thought he was caught red-handed!

[RockySullivan]

Richardson is going into a yard where he doesn't live (his mother does) to check on the basement. What other basements did he check up
On? His mother knew chapman. He admits he's walking around with a knife in his pocket but says he put it there by accident because he doesn't usually walk around with a knife. Accidentally put the knife in his pocket? He's out and about the times the ripper strikes and he walks around with a knife.

I wonder how closely the police check his story about Pearson at the market. Would Pearson have heard about it and told richardson in time for him to get back and see the body or was this story a lie like his first two version of events? No one is placing Lechmere at Nichols murder with a knife but richardson places himself with one at hanbury. I'm flabbergasted that this thread is full of brilliant posters willing to totally ignore the fact that richardson is at the murder spot with a knife out and on third version he admits he's not cutting his shoe!! He was caught in his lies and they unraveled, at the inquest it's clear from the question how suspicious richardson is. If we can find a connection between him and the vault at whitechapel....whose tools were stolen from hanbury? By far richardson is suspect number 1 far above and beyond anyone else. It seems blatantly obvious he killed chapman from his own account.